Too Close
by Olivia94
Summary: Response to ilovemyboys's prompt. Shawn got too close to solving a case. He stumbles into the SBPD station completely disoriented after an attempt on his life. Can Juliet and Lassiter find the killers in time to save Shawn? NO SLASH. Please R&R! Thanks!
1. Dazed and Confused

**This is a response to a prompt from ilovemyboys: "****Something happens to Shawn and he walks into the SBPD Dept. acting strange. Or maybe he's hung over, or drunk, or got hit with some strange drug, I don't know. Something that will get a reaction out of Lassiter, Jewels, Henry, Gus, and Karen and anyone else at the office. (If only one character, then Lassiter)" I couldn't resist! It is a great prompt! Not sure how long it'll be, but it won't be too long. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I have no ownership over Psych. **

**OooOooO**

Lassiter knew something was wrong the second Shawn walked through the doors of the Santa Barbra Police Station.

Instead of bounding through the door, full of energy, Shawn seemed to walk uncertainly, as if each step was a struggle.

"Spencer!" Carlton's voice reverberated throughout the large building.

In a delayed reaction, Shawn turned confused eyes to search the station for the origin of the noise. After much too long a time, he located Lassiter across the room. He lifted his hand in a dazed, half-wave and began making his way towards the detective. Every few steps he would stumble or run into something.

"Spencer, what the hell is wrong with you?" By this time the other occupants of the station were beginning to notice Shawn and his strange behavior.

"Shawn? Are you okay?" Juliet's concerned voice came from just behind Lassiter.

Shawn tripped right as he reached the two detectives. Lassiter's strong hands shot out and grabbed his shoulders, steadying the younger man.

"Lass- wha- where are we?" Shawn's eyes were darting around frantically.

"Spencer." Lassiter shook Shawn to get his attention "Spencer!" Lassiter hadn't ruled the psychic's strange behavior as just being one of his usual antics until he saw his eyes. His eyes were cloudy. Confused. There wasn't the usual knowing, mischievous light in them.

"What happened to you?"

"I don't- I can't… Lassie?" Carlton could feel Shawn start to shake under his hands that were still anchoring the psychic to reality.

"Shawn? What's going on?" Lassiter could hear the fear in his partner's voice.

Spencer's breaths were beginning to come out in shallow gasps.

"Dru- man- he came- I couldn't- too close. I was too- too-" In a terrifying moment for both detectives, Shawn's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed into a heap on the cold stone floor.

"Shawn!" Juliet cried out. Shawn's face was pale and sweaty. He began to convulse violently. Lassiter dropped to his hands and knees to hold down the younger man.

"O'Hara! Call an ambulance!"

After a while, Shawn stopped moving completely.

"Spencer?" His chest wasn't rising. " Spencer! Stay with us! Dammit Spencer!" Carlton began compressions. He was counting under his breath when Juliet came up behind him.

"The ambulance should be here any time." After a moment she realized what was happening. "Oh God. He's not breathing. Shawn? Shawn!"

"O'Hara, stay calm. If I can just keep his blood circulating until the ambulance gets here, he might still have a chance."

After what seemed like hours the ambulance arrived. Shawn was immediately swarmed by several bustling EMTs who worked on him for a moment before loading him into the ambulance and rushing him to the hospital.

His mind was still reeling when Juliet walked up to him. She looked shaken to the core.

"Carlton, what just happened?"

Lassiter thought over everything that had just happened. The faraway, cloudy look in Spencer's eyes. His delayed reaction and his clumsiness_. "Dru- man- he came- I couldn't- too close. I was too- too-."_ Spencer gave him everything he needed. All Lassiter needed to do was put together the pieces of the puzzle.

"It sounds like Spencer got too close to solving a case that someone really didn't want him to solve. So they decided to kill him."

**OooOooO**

**I don't know, guys. This chapter is a bit iffy. Oh well. It'll get better, I promise! Whatdaya think? Should Shawn live? REVIEW! Thanks! :D**


	2. The Plot Thickens

**Chapter two! Unfortunatley this chapter doesn't have much action. There will be action soon though! I don't know how long this will be, but I'm starting to think that it'll be relatively long. Please read and review! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer- I have no ownership over Psych whatsoever.**

**OooOooO**

All that Juliet O'Hara had wanted to do was rush to the hospital to be with Shawn. Every nerve in her body screamed for her to. But she knew that the best thing for her to do was to catch whoever had drugged him. _But where do we start? I don't even know what case he was working on. And if even if we figure that out, we don't know who involved in the case did this. I mean, it's most likely the culprit of his case, but how do we find out who that is? _

There were a million things that Juliet and Lassiter needed to do, but they didn't know where to start.

"O'Hara" Lassiter called, bringing her out of a trance she'd fallen into. "Are you okay?"

_Are you joking?! Did you even see what just happened? _"Um, yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Any word about Shawn?" Juliet tried her hardest to keep the hope out of her voice.

Lassiter cleared his throat, looking like he really didn't want to answer her question. _Oh God. He's dead isn't he? He doesn't want to tell me because he's dead. _Juliet's mind was racing, but she kept out her professional front.

"Well, you see, Spencer—" Lassiter paused, seeming unsure as to how to go about saying this. "What you have to understand is that he went a long time without oxygen. Well, relatively speaking. Six minutes. The doctors are saying that he has cerebral hypoxia caused by a drug overdose. Heroin. When Spencer got to the hospital, they had to put him on life support. Good news is that they were able to take him off the respirator quickly—"

"And the bad news?"

"You know what O'Hara? I've always liked that about you. You pick up on just about everything. Seriously it's a gift that I—"

"Carlton!"

Lassiter sighed, defeated. "Spencer is in a coma. It's very common in cases like this—"

The rest of his words were unheard by Juliet. Her head was reeling. She stumbled over to a nearby chair and collapsed into it.

"How bad is it? I mean, he can wake up, right? He's not going to stay like that… is he?" The pleading look in her eyes tore at Carlton's heart.

"There is a… slight chance…" The look on her face clearly said to elaborate. "Well, in these cases, brain damage only really starts after five minutes. But it _is _possible that, in his case, it didn't. If we're lucky, he'll wake up within the next few days with little to no brain damage."

It wasn't much, but it was enough to give Juliet some hope.

Carlton, seeing her coming back down to Earth, gave her a push "But if we don't find these guys they might try to finish the job."

OooOooO

Unable to think of a better place to start, Lassiter and Juliet arrived at the hospital half an hour later to talk to Gus._ Any case that Spencer was working on Guster should know about. What have these two bone heads stumbled on this time?_

"Guster! If you don't mind, O'Hara and I have a few questions for you." Juliet elbowed Lassiter in the ribs for shouting across the waiting room.

Carlton was taken aback by the tortured look in Gus's eyes. _Stupid! The man's best friend is in life support and I'm treating him like a suspect!_

"How are you Gus?" Juliet asked kindly.

"Well," Gus began "My best friend and partner is currently hooked up to countless machines that are keeping him alive and I'm not sure if he is going to live or not. Just peachy Juliet." Gus put his face in his hands.

"I'm so sorry Gus. I shouldn't have—" Juliet started guiltily.

"No. I'm sorry. I'm just… on edge I guess."

Lassiter cleared his throat loudly. "If you don't mind, Guster, we'd like to ask you a few questions."

Gus nodded solemnly.

"Before Spencer—Shawn—well before he… you know… he said that he 'got too close'. We're assuming that he meant that he got too close to solving a case. Do you have any idea what case he's been working on?"

Gus sat thinking for a moment.

"You know what…" He began slowly, "There is this one case. This kidnapping…"

"The Alexander kidnapping?" Juliet interjected.

"Wait, you know about this?" Lassiter questioned his partner.

"Oh yeah. High profile case. The daughter of a millionaire, Emily Alexander was kidnapped a few weeks ago. After being missing for a few days, she was found murdered."

"Well, why weren't we in on this case?" Lassiter sounded annoyed and offended at the same time.

Gus came in on this one. "Well, I'd guess it is because Nicholas Alexander, the girl's father is a senator. His vote on some big piece of legislation is a tiebreaker. Shawn… divined that she was kidnapped in an attempt for him to change his mind on his vote. When he refused, his daughter was murdered."

"What was this 'big piece of legislation'?" Lassiter asked.

"Something about legalizing certain opiates in an attempt to minimize usage. I'm not sure of the details though. I do remember that Senator Alexander opposed it." Gus said.

Carlton and Juliet exchanged a glance.

"Opiates such as heroin?" Lassiter asked Gus.

"Umm… yes… yeah I'm pretty sure that heroin was on the list… why?"

"Shawn overdosed on heroin." Juliet answered for her partner. "Gus do you have any idea, any idea at all who Shawn thought the culprit was?"

Gus thought for a moment. "I think that Shawn said something about another senator. He was involved in some sort of drug ring… A drug ring that would be legal if this bill passed… His name was something like… Temple. Yes. That's what it was. Senator Hayden Temple. He couldn't do anything about it though, because the case is under federal jurisdiction. I think that Shawn was trying to find a way to get the word out though."

"Looks like we need to talk to Mr. Temple." Lassiter said.

"Thanks Gus. So much. And I'm really sorry." Juliet told Gus softly.

"Yeah me too. No go find whoever did this before I kill him myself."

**OooOooO**

**Woohoo for violent Gus! Okay, so this story is going in a completely different direction than I anticipated. Oh well. Sorry to ilovemyboys if this isn't what you wanted.**

**REVIEWS MAKE ME WRITE FASTER ;D**


	3. Well This is Awkward

**Here's chapter 3. There isn't a lot of action in this one either. This is more of the personal stuff. I hope you enjoy!**

**OooOooO**

Henry Spencer had always wanted his son to be a police officer. Pride, honor, discipline—all the things he wanted for his son could be acquired as a cop. Everything about the job was just what Shawn needed. Well, almost everything. Henry could go without the danger factor.

Though Shawn never actually became an officer, his job at Psych had some of the same benefits and all of the same risks. Henry worried for his son every day--not that he'd let anyone know that.

When his phone rang late that Thursday afternoon, Henry Spencer just knew deep down that it would be bad news.

"Hello?" Henry said as he picked up the phone.

"Mr. Spencer? This is Gus." Something in the young man's voice made Henry's heart drop to his ankles.

"Gus? What's wrong? What happened?" Henry had stopped breathing a few seconds.

"It's Shawn…" Gus trailed off. Of course he would be the one that had to tell Henry Spencer that his son was in the hospital.

"Shawn? What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" Gus hesitated for just a second too long. "Dammit Guster, just tell me what the hell is wrong with my son!"

OooOooO

Lassiter stood outside of Shawn's hospital room while his partner went inside. The detectives had called Senator Temple's office only to find that he was in a meeting. With no where else to go, Juliet and Lassiter had decided to visit Shawn before the Senator got out of his meeting and they could question him.

Not that Lassiter particularly _wanted_ to visit Spencer. It was more of O'Hara's idea. Looking through the cracked blinds into the psychic's room gave him an idea of why. Carlton saw his partner sitting at Shawn's bedside. She was holding his hand and speaking softly. Lassiter could have sworn he saw a few tears rolling down Juliet's face. He didn't know what she was saying, but he was sure it was pretty personal. Feeling as though he was intruding, Lassiter turned around and began to count the number of tiles on the floor. Unable to resist, he stole a glance back into the room in time to see his partner kissing Spencer on the forehead before making her way to the hallway.

Lassiter averted his gaze as Juliet came out of the room. She seemed composed, but Carlton could tell she was pretty shaken up.

"Are you going to go in and see him?" Juliet asked him after a moment.

"No I don't think—" Her eyes shot daggers. "Actually I think I will." Lassiter slipped into the hospital room with his partner glaring after him.

_What exactly am I supposed to do here? Does she want me to like, sob over him or something? _Carlton made his way to the chair besides the bed. Shawn didn't look too good. His skin was as white as the sheets he lay in. A large oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth obscured most of his face.

Lassiter sat down in the chair. He began to speak uncomfortably. "Umm… hello, Spencer. This is Lassiter. Head Detective Carlton Lassiter, that is." Carlton caught his partner peeking through the blinds similarly to how he had.

"Well, Spencer, I don't know what you stumbled into this time. Whatever it is it's big." After a moment of hesitation he continued "I promise you, O'Hara and I will find whoever did this to you. You're… you're a good detective Spencer. We'll finish this case." Looking around awkwardly as if to ensure that no one overheard him, Lassiter stood up and walked out into the hall.

**OooOooO**

**I'm not gonna lie people. I have really no idea where this story is going. Like all my others, I'm sort of making it up as I go along. I'm not really sure how to make the detective stuff interesting without Shawn. Oh well. I'll figure it out. I'm very open to suggestions!**

**Another thing. I didn't do the scene with Juliet and Shawn in the hospital because it just seemed too cliché. Sorry. If enough people ask for it, though, I'll be willing to write it!**

**So pretty much all of this adds up to one thing: REVIEW! (Please and thanks!)**


	4. Who Does That?

**Here is chapter four! I'm writing as fast as I can! I hope you enjoy! Review, please and thanks!**

**OooOooO**

"Senator Temple will see you now." The young receptionist said softly, her voice somehow carrying across the open waiting room.

As they walked Lassiter gave his partner some advice. "Don't get angry. We have to look at this case objectively. For all we know, Spencer was way off. And even if he wasn't, we can't go in and scare him, causing him to clam up…" Carlton continued to talk, but Juliet zoned out.

_Is he telling me, or himself? _The younger detective knew that her mentor was taking this case just as hard as everyone else one. _Not that he'd admit it. _

They reached the official-looking double doors and O'Hara took a deep breath, trying to establish some composure. Lassiter did the same.

As soon as Juliet saw Hayden Temple, she wanted to scream _He did it! Him, there, he did it! _The senator just had this look and this air about him. It would be impossible not to suspect him under the circumstances.

As the duo walked in, the man was looking right at them. He wasn't fussing with anything on his desk or messing with a laptop. He was staring right at them. He was younger than Juliet expected. Mid thirties, probably. He had tanned skin and jet black hair that was cut short. He was clean faced with teeth an impossible white. The most startling thing about his appearance, however, was his eyes. In contrast to his entire look, his eyes were a sharp, piercing blue. Startlingly intense. He saw everything. In that instant, Juliet was sure that Hayden Temple knew everything about her.

The detectives approached the desk and Temple stood up crisply and shook each one's hand, making intense eye contact all the while. He was about Lassiter's height, but much more muscular.

"Detectives, how may I help you?" His voice was low and sharp as a blade. _Is this guy for real? _Juliet couldn't help but wonder.

"Well sir, we'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind." Lassiter said, keeping his voice neutral.

"Not at all. It's always a pleasure to work with Santa Barbara's finest." He said while looking at Juliet. _How is it possible that he can be so intimidating and charming at the same time? _

Lassiter snapped open his briefcase and pulled out some photos.

"Have you ever seen this girl before?" The photograph he slapped onto the desk was of a pretty, brunette girl, most likely a school photo. She couldn't have been older than sixteen.

"Oh yes. That would be Emily Alexander. Nicholas's kid. A terrible tragedy." Hayden said sadly.

"Sounds like you know Senator Alexander pretty well." Juliet interjected.

"Yes, of course. Coming out of college I was Nicholas's intern for two years. Great guy. It's awful that he has to go through this." Lassiter and O'Hara exchanged an uncertain look.

"How about him?" Lassiter placed a photo of Shawn on the table next to Emily's. Both detectives registered the recognition that flashed across the senator's face before it became neutral once more. He hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Well… he certainly looks familiar. I'm not sure how I know him, though." _LIAR! _Juliet was screaming in her head.

"His name is Shawn Spencer. He was admitted to the hospital this morning after an attempt on his life. He is a police consultant." If Temple heard the venom behind Lassiter's words, he didn't show it.

Hayden hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Yes," He began slowly, "I remember, he came in here asking questions just after Emily was kidnapped."

"And do you know why he had reason to suspect you?" Juliet asked, not expecting an answer.

Hayden turned his head to look her directly in the eyes. His next words were like ice. "Detective, my relations with my former mentor are," He hesitated, "complicated. We often take different sides on issues. I would have to assume that Mr. Spencer" He spat Shawn's name out like a curse, causing both detectives to flinch, "was under the impression that this was enough reason for me to kidnap and murder his daughter." His straightforwardness shocked both Juliet and Lassiter. "Now if you don't mind, I have important issues to see to."

OooOooO

It wasn't until they were in the car that Lassiter and Juliet deemed it safe to speak about the senator.

"That was… interesting." Juliet said.

"You're telling me. There's something fishy about that guy." Lassiter growled.

"No kidding." Juliet said sarcastically.

"He's smart," Lassiter began, ignoring his partner's comment, "He intentionally acted guilty to make himself seem innocent. Who does that?"

"Like you said. Someone who's smart. Now all we've got to do is prove that this is our guy."

OooOooO

As the partners stood up, thanked the senator and left, Hayden Temple's piercing blue eyes followed them all the way out the door. Once they were out of sight, he threw open a drawer and pulled out a cell phone hidden there.

"Get me Jones," He said into the receiver, "We have a problem. The psychic is alive."

**OooOooO**

**Dun dun duuuun!!!!! Here we go! I've figured out where I'm going with this! **

**When I said that I write faster when I get reviews, I wasn't lying. To be honest I was starting to get bored with my own story, but the reviews kept me going! Please keep them up! :D**


	5. Be On the Winning Side

**Here's chapter 5! Thanks so much for reviewing! **

**OooOooO**

They'd gone through everything. Phone records and credit card payments. They checked out the people he was associated with, both personally and professionally. _How the hell are we supposed to prove that this guy is our murderer? _Lassiter thought in annoyance. He and O'Hara had stayed at the office until well after midnight searching for something to link Hayden Temple to the crimes.

At about 11:30 O'Hara walked over to Lassiter's desk. She threw the files down onto his desk with a little more force than was necessary. "Ugh!" She cried in frustration. Lassiter looked up from the papers he was scanning in acknowledgment of his partner. "I've gone through everything I can think of. Everything! And still we're no closer to nailing this guy." Juliet plopped down into the nearest chair and put her face in her hands.

"We _have _to be missing _something_!" Lassiter said, slamming shut the file he was looking at.

Juliet raised her head to peer at her partner. " And what would that be, Carlton?"

"Well, I don't know."

"That's helpful."

"But there's got to be _something_!" The two sat in silence for a moment, and then Lassiter had a thought. "Wait. Guster said something about Temple being involved in a drug ring, right?"

"Yes…" Juliet said, trying to see where Lassiter was going with this.

"Well, why are we focusing on Temple? There have to be other people involved, right? If we try and find them, then maybe we can pin Temple."

"One problem." Juliet began, "How are we supposed to find them?"

"We do a little digging and check out all the guys have been arrested for something related to drug sale or use since Emily was kidnapped. We can question them and try to find someone connected to the drug ring."

It was a long shot, but it was all they had.

OooOooO

FLASHBACK

_SANTA BARBARA, 1987_

_Henry Spencer barged into the principal's office at Shawn's school. He caught sight of Shawn sitting in a chair, facing the principal who sat behind a desk. "What's going on here? I had to come here in the middle of my shift." His son turned to face him and he realized that Shawn had a bloody lip and was holding an ice bag to his eye._

"_Shawn, what happened to you?"_

_Shawn opened his mouth to answer, but the principal spoke for him. "Your son got into a fight today, Mr. Spencer."_

"_What? Shawn, why would you do that? You know what I've told you about fighting." Shawn just looked down, avoiding his father's eyes._

"_Thank you, Mrs. Williams. I'll take it from here. Shawn, come with me." Reluctantly, Shawn got out of the chair and followed Henry. Once they were in the hall, Henry addressed his son. "Shawn, what were you thinking?"_

"_I had to, Dad!" Shawn told him desperately._

"_What do you mean, you had to?"_

"_Jimmy Nichols was picking on Tyler McCarthy. He was trying to steal Tyler's lunch money! Tyler didn't have any, so Jimmy was gonna beat him up! I had to do something, Dad."_

_Henry Spencer considered his son for a moment. From the genuine look in his eye, he knew that Shawn was telling the truth. "So you confronted Jimmy so that Tyler wouldn't get beaten up." _

_Shawn nodded violently. Henry sighed, "Look son," He led Shawn to a bench in the hallway and the two sat down, "You did a good thing. But listen to me, kid. If you're going to stand up to someone to help someone else, make sure that you're fighting against someone who you have a chance to beat. Because if you don't, you'll end up in over your head. And that's when you can get seriously hurt. Do you understand?"_

_Shawn nodded once again, processing what his dad said. Henry smiled at his son. He was proud of him for standing up for that poor Tyler kid. But at the same time, he hoped that Shawn would take his advice to heart._

END FLASHBACK

Henry Spencer was sitting at his son's bedside. Shawn was lying impossibly still in the hospital cot. _What has he gotten himself into? _His son was hooked up to numerous machines and had a breathing mask on his face. The whiteness of the sheets served only to make him look even paler. Henry had never seen Shawn looking as vulnerable as he did right now. He didn't like it one bit.

The truth was, Henry was scared out of his mind. This was unprecedented. Shawn had been in the hospital before, but never like this. He had never had to worry about whether or not his son would ever walk out of the hospital. The older Spencer had been sitting with the younger since visiting hours started. He didn't want to leave him for a second.

Just as Henry was thinking about how hungry he was, an unfamiliar doctor walked in.

"Mr. Spencer?" The doctor, a tall male in his forties, asked.

"Yes?"

"Hello, I'm Dr. Reynolds." The doctor stuck out his hand, which Henry shook.

"Nice to meet you. Are you one of Shawn's doctors?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave for a few minutes. I need to run a few tests on your son."

"What kind of tests?" Henry asked uncertainly.

"Oh, just standard stuff. Blood pressure, oxygen levels, brain activity—that kind of thing. I'm sorry, but families aren't allowed to be in the room during the tests."

"No, no, it's fine. I'll just go grab some breakfast." Henry glanced at his son, nodded his head, and left the room.

Dr. Reynolds followed him to the door. Once he was gone, the doctor checked the area around the room. Seeing that no one was around, he turned back to Shawn. Dr. Reynolds analyzed the multiple machines hooked up to the man. Quickly formulating a plan, he walked over and began turning off the machines. Dr. Reynolds was halfway to the exit when Shawn flat lined.

**OooOooO**

**Hehe. CLIFFHANGER! Please don't kill me.**

**Wanna know what happens? Review! Please and thanks!**


	6. Chaos

**Well, I couldn't leave you hanging for **_**that **_**long. FYI, this is going to be kind of chaotic, hence the chapter name. It's supposed to be like that. For those of you who have read my other stories, you may start seeing these types of patterns in my writing. Please review! Thanks!**

**OooOooO**

Gus was feeling refreshed as he walked into the hospital. Henry had insisted that he go home and shower and eat. The only reason that Gus agreed was that he realized that Henry needed some alone time with his son.

As Gus made his way to Shawn's room he noticed that the nurses and doctors in the area were in a sort of frenzy. _Well that's never good in a hospital… _He thought grimly, not even considering that his best friend might be the source of the frantic behavior. Then he heard something that made his heart stop.

"Someone grab a crash cart! We've got a code blue in room 147!"

_That's Shawn's room. Oh my God that's Shawn's room._ He just kept thinking that over and over. Gus felt like he wanted to puke. He had no idea what code blue was, but he sure knew what a crash cart was. Snapping out of his momentary trance, Gus started to sprint to room 147.

OooOooO

There was chaos in the room.

"Where's that crash cart?!"

"Who the hell turned off his dialysis machine?!"

"Let's charge 250!"

"No, no we've got to get his heart started now if he's going to have a chance. Charge 300!"

"Clear!"

Shawn's body jolted upwards as the electricity surged through him. No response.

"Shawn!" A strangled cry came from the doorway.

"Who let the friend in? Get him out of here!"

"Come on! Charge 350!"

"Clear!"

There was another jolt sent through Shawn's body.

"Nothing. Again!"

This time as Shawn's chest jerked up, a steady beeping began to emit from the heart monitor.

"We've got a heartbeat!"

"Okay, let's get him back on hemodialysis and try to repair some of this damage. Marks, we're going to have to hook him up to the ventilator again until we can clean up some of his blood. Got it? That's the best friend in the hall? I'll go talk to him."

The doctor walked out of the crowded room to address the distressed man in the hall. Seeing him, Gus stood up and began speaking frantically.

"Wha-what happened? Is Shawn okay?" He was anxiously trying to get a peek in the hospital room over the doctor's shoulder.

"Well—"

"Shawn?! What's going on here!" Henry Spencer appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Mr. Spencer. I'm Dr. Anderson, Shawn's doctor."

Henry didn't even acknowledge the introduction. "What the hell happened to my son?!"

"Mr. Spencer, if you wouldn't mind calming down this would be a lot—"

"Calm down? Calm down? Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to—"

"Henry!" Both the doctor and the elder Spencer were surprised at Gus's outburst. "If you'll be quiet for two seconds the doctor can explain what's going on." Henry swallowed and nodded his head.

"We're not completely sure what just happened. It seems that Shawn's dialysis machine was turned off." Seeing the blank look on Henry's face he elaborated. "Dialysis is common for people in Shawn's condition. His overdose caused his kidneys to get clogged trying to filter the drugs out of his system. This caused a chain reaction of sorts and affected his liver. Now, the dialysis machine helps his kidneys to filter out everything in his system. Considering how heavy the dosage of heroin was, I'm actually surprised that his kidneys haven't completely shut down by now."

"Get to the point, doc. What happens now that the machine was turned off?"

Anderson continued patiently. "Well, turning off the dialysis machine was devastating. Shawn's blood was too thick to pump through his heart, which is why it stopped. Luckily we were able to shock him back. The blood also clogged up his lungs so we had to put him back on the ventilator, but only for a few hours. We have him back on dialysis now, but I'm guessing that his kidneys are completely shot. I'm afraid that Shawn will likely need a kidney transplant."

Henry collapsed into the nearest chair and put his face in his hands. Gus looked shell-shocked.

"What does this do to his chances?" Gus asked in a small voice.

The doctor thought for a moment. "This shouldn't really lessen the chances that he'll wake up. It just adds complications to his overall condition."

Both Gus and Henry just nodded, realizing the good and bad in what was said.

After a moment, Henry spoke up. "I want to talk to Dr. Reynolds."

"Excuse me, who?" Anderson asked, confused.

"Dr. Reynolds. Tall guy, a few years older than your self."

"I'm sorry sir, but there is no Dr. Reynolds at this hospital."

**OooOooO**

**Okay, so it wasn't much, but at least it resolved the cliffe, right? Right?**

**Just so you know, the medical info I got is from my enlightening 9****th**** grade bio class as well as three years' worth of **_**Private Practice**_**, so I'm sorry if I got it wrong. I tried my best. Next chapter should be out by the end of the weekend. That is, if I get reviews. I'm doing 2 other stories right now, so whichever gets the most reviews is the one I update first. So PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!**


	7. Staying Strong

**Finally we have 7! I hope you enjoy! Please read and review! Thanks so much you awesome people!!!!**

**OooOooO**

A total of fifteen people in the Santa Barbara had been arrested for a drug-related offense since the Emily Alexander kidnapping three weeks ago. Of those, four were for sale. 

Detective Juliet O'Hara was sitting at her desk, flipping through the files of the four offenders. She'd hardly slept last night. She hadn't gotten home until 2:30 in the morning, and from there had a hard time drifting to sleep. Then, of course, she woke up to a heart-wrenching, frantic call from Gus.

"_Juliet?"_

"_Gus, what's going on? What's wrong?" Even in her foggy, half-asleep state, Juliet could hear the fear and pain in Gus's voice. _

"_JulietitsShawnheflatlinedandheneedsakidneytransplantandthisdoctor—" Gus didn't take a second to breathe. Juliet didn't understand a word._

"_Whoa, Gus, you've got to slow down. What about Shawn?" Juliet said, fear creeping into her voice. She heard Gus take a few calming breaths before explaining._

"_In the hospital, this guy, he turned off Shawn's dialysis machine. I don't know who. But Shawn, he flat-lined. He was out for a while but the doctors, they brought him back. He's okay, well, he's not okay. He's alive. But he needs a transplant. Kidneys. He's still in a coma though. It's bad Juliet. It's—it's…" Gus stopped, overcome by emotion. After a moment, Juliet was able to register the jumble that had spilled out of the sales rep's mouth._

"_Oh my God! Is he going to be okay?"_

"_I don't—I don't…"_

_Juliet saw that Gus was panicking and changed the subject abruptly, "Okay Gus, it's okay. What do we know about the guy who did this?"_

"_N-not much. This guy just came in. He told Henry that he was a Doctor. Dr. Reynolds I think. He said that he needed to run tests and Henry needed to leave. We think he's the one who did it because according to Dr. Anderson, Shawn's doctor, there isn't a Dr. Reynolds at the hospital." _

_Juliet groaned and put her head in her hands. She was silent for a moment, then had an epiphany, "Wait… this could be a good thing…"_

"_Are you crazy! A good thing? How could this possibly—"_

"_Gus!" The man quieted, "Hear me out. Clearly, this isn't a good thing. What I mean is that we now have a tangible place to start our investigation. Look, we spent all last night compiling a list of drug offenders. Lassiter had this theory that—oh never mind. But now, we have a suspect. I'll call Lassiter and he'll go over and talk to Henry while I keep following what we have."_

"_Wait, why Lassiter? Why don't you come? I think that you'd be better for—"_

_Juliet cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Oh, you know, Lassiter. He's great with the victims and the sympathy stuff, you know. I'd hate to take that away from him." She said, hoping he'd take the bait._

_But Gus wouldn't bite. "Juliet, what the heck are you talking about? I really think that it'd be better if you—"_

"_I can't Gus, okay? I can't. I just… can't" Juliet burst out. "Look, I've got work to do. I'll send Lassiter right over." She hung up the phone before Gus could respond._

Lassiter, mercifully, had sped off to the hospital without questioning his partner. One of the great things about having Carlton Lassiter as a partner was that he knew when to just stay quiet; a trait that Juliet would be eternally grateful for.

Now, sitting behind her desk, Juliet O'Hara buried her face in her hands once again. _I'm terrible. I'm a terrible person, a terrible friend and a terrible detective. Poor Shawn is laying, dying, in a hospital room and I can't even go to the hospital. _Her eyes welled up with unshed tears. She refused to cry. Not here. Not now. Not while Shawn needed her. Maybe she couldn't bring herself to physically be there for him right now, but she could try like hell to catch the monsters that did this to him.

OooOooO

Lassiter walked through the maze that was the hospital with purpose. He came here with a job to do. Get in, get the elder Spencer's statement, and get out. There was no room for emotion or attachment. _In fact, I'm not even going to glance at the hospital bed. _

As he approached room 147, he dismissed the nervousness that began creeping up on him. This was his least favorite part of the job. Talking to the family. Whether the victim was dead or alive, the pain that the family felt always shone through whatever façade they built around themselves. From past experience, Carlton knew that Spencer hid his grief through pure willpower. He forced himself to focus on whatever it was he was doing.

But when Lassiter walked into the room, all traces of that man were gone. The Henry Spencer that was tough and hardcore and determined ceased to exist. All that the head detective saw was grieving father. That's how he knew it was bad. Guster wasn't there. Whether he was out briefly getting food or using the restroom or if he just couldn't handle being in the room, Lassiter didn't know.

As much as Carlton hated to break his promise with himself so soon, he couldn't resist. His eyes automatically gravitated to the pathetic figure in the bed. He had thought that Shawn looked bad the previous afternoon, but this was just… surreal. The young man was so pale he was practically translucent. Even in his unconsciousness he looked downright exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes and his usually blithe face looked troubled. A tube, the ventilator, was stuck in his mouth, running down his throat. His arms looked like a pushpin with the countless IVs and machines hooked up to him.

After taking a moment to take it all in, Lassiter tore his eyes away from the younger Spencer and cleared his throat loudly. Henry turned sorrowful eyes to the detective slowly, as if in a trance.

"Detective." He said simply.

"Yes, Mr. Spencer. If you wouldn't mind I'd like to take your statement." The two men spent the next few moments going through the standard protocol for the situation.

"Do you remember anything about this Dr. Reynolds character? Any type of physical description?"

Henry sat thoughtfully for a moment before responding. "The guy was tall. Probably about your height. He was a bit beefier though…" The elder Spencer commented, raising an eyebrow and surveying the detective. Only a Spencer could irritate Carlton in his state. "His hair was a sort of auburn color. He had blue eyes."

"That's good. That's really—" Lassiter stopped as a light bulb went off in his head.

"What? What's wrong?" Henry commented, noticing the detective's reaction.

Without responding Lassiter whipped out his cell and dialed a familiar number. "O'Hara? I think I know who our guy is."

**OooOooO**

**Yay! Semi-cliffe. Sorry! It's long though! I hope to update this weekend though. Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I feel bad because you reviewers are so AWESOME! I've just been super duper busy lately. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! When I say that reviews keep me going, I'm telling the truth! Please and thanks! :D**


	8. And You Thought You Knew These People

**Here's chapter 8! There isn't a whole bunch of plot advancement in this chapter, but hey. It's better than nothing, right. Right? **

**Please R&R. Thanks!**

**OooOooO**

Lassiter slapped a file on his partner's desk. "This is our guy."

Juliet browsed through the pages doubtfully. "I don't know Carlton…"

"What? What do you mean 'I don't know'? This is our guy! We've nailed him, O'Hara! Spencer, well, the _older _Spencer," Lassiter amended, "can identify him. He had a conversation with the guy for crying out loud! If we just bring him in here—"

"I know all of this, Carlton."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's just…" She hesitated.

"Just what O'Hara? Spit it out!" Lassiter cried, annoyed.

"How can you be sure this is the guy?"

Lassiter was shocked. "What?"

"Well, all you know is that it's some guy with auburn hair and blue eyes."

"A _tall, beefy _guy with auburn hair and blue eyes." Carlton said defensively. Juliet raised an eyebrow. He sighed, "Look O'Hara. This guy, this" Lassiter conferred his file, "Samuel Thomas was brought in for circulating drugs about two weeks ago. We didn't have enough to secure his conviction, so he was released. He fits the profile of our mystery criminal as well as fitting Spencer's physical description. What else do you want?"

"I don't know, Carlton." She sighed, "I just—I need to get this right."

Lassiter nodded understandingly. "We will, O'Hara."

OooOooO

Sam Thomas was not an easy guy to find. The two detectives practically had to tear apart Santa Barbara to find him. A charge to the man's credit card is what finally alerted them to his location: a gas station in the oldest part of town. The two detectives, along with a couple black and whites, were able to trace his location from there.

So now Samuel Thomas was sitting behind the metal table in the interrogation room, having been ambushed then dragged, kicking and screaming, into the station. Lassiter and Juliet stood behind the one-way glass, eyeing their suspect carefully.

"What do you make of him?" Juliet asked her partner, breaking the silence.

"He fits the description, he resisted arrest… I'd say this is our guy, O'Hara." He said confidently. Juliet sighed in relief. Maybe her partner wasn't right as often as Shawn, but she trusted his judgment.

"Just one thing. Why are we still waiting?" She asked. They'd been letting the suspect simmer for about half an hour.

Lassiter opened his mouth to answer, but a third voice did the job for him.

"Where is he? Where is that son of a bitch that did this to my son?!" Henry Spencer's voice came from just outside the observation room. Juliet saw Samuel Thomas visibly flinch in his seat.

"That." Carlton said simply, jerking his thumb in the direction of the voice. He walked to the door and opened it to find a very angry Henry Spencer. He was a completely different man than the one in the hospital.

"Mr. Spencer—" Lassiter walked up to him in the hall.

"Cut the crap, Detective, and let me see him!"

While Juliet was taken aback by the response, Lassiter remained unfazed.

"Mr. Spencer if you—"

"He's in there isn't he…" Henry babbled, and then to himself "well of course he's in there. ("Mr. Spencer" Lassiter said) That's the interrogation room for crying out loud."

"Spencer…" Lassiter continued to try to get a word in.

"He thinks he can get a way with doing this to my kid. ("Spencer") Well I'll show him. ("Spencer")No one can get away with that. …" Henry continued to mumble.

"Spencer… " Lassiter said wearily.

"I'm so stupid! Of course he wasn't a doctor. This is all my fault. If I hadn't—"

"HENRY, SHUT UP!" The ex-cop and head detective spun around, shocked at Juliet's outburst.

"O'Hara—" Lassiter said, annoyed and concerned for his partner.

Juliet discarded him and turned to Henry. "Look, Mr. Spencer," she began, "I get that this is a hard time for you. Really, I do. But you have _got _to pull yourself together! If you don't want to for yourself, do it for Shawn. You going off the wall, babbling and angry—with Samuel Thomas and yourself—is not going to help him. What will help him is if you suck it up, shake it off and start acting like a detective!"

The room was completely silent for seven whole seconds.

"Hm. Maybe you can be a good cop. I guess I underestimated you." Henry said with a slight smile. His eyes were almost… was that amusement?

O'Hara opened her mouth to reply, but stopped. _Was that a compliment or an insult?_

Henry simply walked past her and into the small room and began looking over the suspect.

Carlton followed him, clapping Juliet on the shoulder as he went. Dumbstruck, Juliet turned and followed the two men into the observation room.

Henry analyzed the suspect shrewdly. As much as he wanted to nail this guy, he knew he had to be right. The older Spencer took into account the height, hair color, eyes and facial features of the young man behind the table. After a few moments he turned to the detectives.

"That's him."

**OooOooO**

**Did you like Juliet's outburst? I got the idea from **_**The Greatest Adventure in the History of Basic Cable. **_**This chapter seems a bit OOC, but I guess they would be a bit OOC in this situation. **

**Sorry this took longer than usual. I had a heck of a week. Like, a total of nine hours of sleep over the past five days. I mean, I wrote this in Study Hall. That's how busy I've been. **

**I'm going to try like heck to update before the end of the weekend, because if I don't, I don't know how long it'll be before I can again. You guys can ensure that I do by ****REVIEWING****! It's not blackmail. I just really, really do write faster when I've gotten reviews :D. Thanks!**


	9. Confessions

**Okay guys, I feel awful. Y'all have been so good with the reviews and it took me so long to get this out! I'm sooooo sorry! I've been crazy, crazy busy! This chapter is short too. It's all I could get out, and I thought you'd probably rather me get this out instead of waiting to make it longer. It's eventful though! Please review! Thanks so much!**

**OooOooO**

Juliet stood behind the mirror in awe as she watched her partner work his magic. Carlton just had this presence in the interrogation room. The criminals were practically begging for mercy by the time he was through in there. The funny thing was that he hardly even said anything. There have been times where the perp has cracked under his stare alone.

Juliet was actually a little surprised at how quickly Samuel Thomas gave in. _I guess an eyewitness will help speed things up. _He had already confessed to being involved in Shawn's attempted murder; Lassiter was trying to get the guy to open up about his partners and leaders.

"Now you listen here," Lassiter was saying "We've got you for the attempted murder of a man on our payroll. We can put you away for a long time. If you want to cut down the time you spend behind bars, all you have to do is give us some names."

Sam looked up at Lassiter wearily. "Bob, Jill, Max, Arnold—" He said sarcastically.

Lassiter chuckled dryly. "Oh look, we've got ourselves a comedian." Suddenly he slammed his hands down on the table, causing Thomas to jump. "You listen to me, you piece of dirt. The attitude isn't going to get you anywhere you want to go. If I were you, I'd cut the crap and tell me what I want to know!" Lassiter's voice was low and dangerous when he spoke.

Samuel Thomas swallowed hard and glanced around himself, as if to make sure no one would overhear what he was about to reveal.

"I'm going to need police protection for this—for me and my family."

Lassiter eyed him shrewdly before nodding. "I'll see what I can do."

"This thing" Thomas began slowly, "It's big. Bigger than you think." He paused for a moment, as if unsure whether he should continue.

"Get on with it!" Lassiter growled.

"Okay!" Sam took in two long breaths in through his nose, out through his mouth. "About seven months ago I got a call. This guy, some senator, had been searching for people to make drugs. I dunno how he got my name. I guess he just looked for people like me—chemists, pharmacists or anything like that. I needed the money so I signed on. Then, a few weeks ago, my boss kidnapped this girl, Emily something. I had nothing to do with that, I swear. He ended up killing her. Then this psychic, Shawn Spencer, comes along. The boss said that this guy is the one person who could ruin everything. He ordered me to kill him. When I said no, my boss told me that he'd kill my entire family and there was nothing I could do about it. I had to do it! He made me! So, I kidnapped this Shawn guy using chloroform and drugged him with heroin. I made sure not to give him enough to kill him, though. I'm not a killer! I thought that doing that would buy enough time for you guys to end this all. I thought that the psychic would tell you everything! But then, my boss called me. Said that Shawn wasn't dead. Said that he was watching my kid and he'd kill her if I didn't finish the job. So I went in, turned off the dialysis machine, got caught, and here I am."

Lassiter nodded as he finished scribbling some notes on his notepad. "You talked about your boss and you talked about a senator. Are they the same person?" He asked.

Thomas shook his head. "Nope. My boss is this thug called Mike Dawson. He's kind of a coordinator. He passes messages on for his boss. The senator guy is Mike's boss. He runs _everything. _He calls the shots, tells us what to do, what drugs to make. He's the guy who told us to take out this Shawn guy and the little girl." Thomas spoke quickly and frantically.

"Would this senator's name happen to be Hayden Temple?" Lassiter asked.

Samuel Thomas shook his head once more. "Nope. It's Nicholas. Nicholas Alexander."

**OooOooO**

**Dun dun dun! Betcha didn't see that coming. Guess what? I didn't either. Oh well. I think it's a good twist. Do you? Tell me. In a REVIEW! Thanks so much!**


	10. Decisions

**Hey guys! Long time no see! *Sets up barricade* I'm soooo sorry for taking so long to update! I can honestly say that it isn't a result of a lack of motivation or inspiration, but a lack of **_**time. **_**These past two weeks have been a fun little time know as finals week. Which basically sucks. And according to my mom, my future is more important than updating my fanfiction every week. I know. I disagree too, but what can I do? She's the one who feeds me. **

**The good news is, that it's SUMMER! So my updates should be much faster now. That is, if I get reviews ****. **

**Sorry if this chapter is boring, but it needed to be done.**

**OooOooO**

Gus hadn't left Shawn's room since Henry left two hours previously. He hadn't so much as gotten up to use the restroom. He couldn't: It was his responsibility to watch over his friend.

About an hour before, a doctor had come in to take Shawn off the ventilator. The doctor first assured Gus that he was, in fact, a real doctor and that taking Shawn off the ventilator was a good thing. Gus made sure of it. He wasn't going to let anything else happen to his best friend.

Shawn was lying peacefully in his hospital bed; now with an oxygen mask on his face. Gus was still waiting for the other man to wake up. It took all of his willpower not to spring up from his chair, grab Shawn by the shoulders and just shake him to wake him up. Gus told himself that Shawn was in a coma and that wouldn't work, but he was still tempted. _He looks like he's just sleeping… _

Just as Gus was thinking that, another doctor came bustling into the room. He had a chart in his hands and was reading it rapidly as he walked.

"Mr. Shawn Spencer…" He spoke without looking up. It seemed more like he was talking to himself than anything.

"That's him." Gus said. He eyed the doctor critically. _I haven't seen this one before… Or have I? Hell, there have been so many doctors coming into this room; I can't tell if I've seen him before or not. _

The doctor's head snapped up from his charts when Gus spoke.

"You must be Mr. Guster." He said, striding over to the other man and sticking out his hand. "Clara, Mr. Spencer's nurse, told me about you. She said you haven't left Shawn's side all day. That's a good friend." The man beamed. Gus still hadn't taken his hand.

"Well, almost all day. The one time I got up, Shawn was almost killed by a fake doctor." There was an edge to Gus's voice.

The doctor chuckled. "Well, Mr. Guster, I assure you that I am a real doctor—a surgeon in fact. I'm Dr. Wyatt Riley. It's very nice to meet you." Dr. Riley reached over to his pocket with his unshaken hand, unclipped his ID, and then handed it to Gus. The doctor waited patiently as the other man scanned the ID shrewdly. Once satisfied, Gus handed back the card and shook the doctor's hand.

"Sorry about that." Gus said, embarrassed.

Riley just flashed him an award-winning smile. "Not at all, Mr. Guster. Can't be too careful, right?"

"Right." Gus smiled back. He liked this guy. The doctor had thick, dark brown hair—just the kind that Shawn would have envied. He had a handsome face and bright, kind, green eyes. The man was tall and slim. He couldn't have been thirty.

"Aren't you a little young to be a surgeon?" Gus asked critically. He wanted the best for his friend.

If possible, Wyatt Riley's smile widened. "Yes sir, I am young for a surgeon. But I can assure you that I'm fully qualified: Four years of medical school, and internship and three years of residency."

Gus nodded. "Is everything all right? With Shawn, that is." He said, changing the subject.

"Well, no. Not really. Everything's not _all right, _but still, his condition has improved from a few hours ago. His lungs are cleaning out and he can breathe on his own now. At the same time, however, his kidneys are beginning to shut down. What's happening is that the concentration of heroin in Shawn's blood is incredibly high. It's the kidney's job to filter that out, so they had to work overtime to get all of the drugs out of his system. The dialysis machine is helping with that. When Shawn's dialysis machine was turned off, he was left to filter everything out for himself. His kidneys became clogged and the blood flow was cut off. When the dialysis machine was turned back on, the clog cleared out and blood flow continued. The only problem is that the blood deprivation has caused Shawn to go into acute renal failure—his low blood pressure and the blood in his urine are symptoms of this. It doesn't seem like his kidney function is going to return, because the damage was severe. So, we have two options."

"Two options?" Gus questioned, "Dr. Anderson said that Shawn had to get a kidney transplant."

Dr. Riley nodded. "Yes, that is one option. The other would be for Mr. Spencer to undergo long-term dialysis. He'd have to come into the hospital every other day to have his blood cleaned out."

Gus nodded slowly, taking everything in. "What are the risks involved with the transplant?"

"Well there is always a certain degree of danger involved in surgery. With transplant surgeries, there is always a chance that the body will mistake the organ as malignant and the T cells of the body will kill the organ." Dr. Riley warned.

"What happens then?" Gus asked, dreading the answer.

"It's not good. Mr. Spencer's kidneys would shut down completely. With that, he would not be able to urinate. His blood toxicity levels would skyrocket. His other organs would begin to shut down. All in all, it would kill him." The doctor said bluntly, yet kindly.

"Oh." Was all Gus could say.

"I'll give you some time to think and confer with Shawn's family. When you're ready, ask the nurse to page Dr. Riley." With one last sympathetic smile Dr. Riley walked out of the room.

Gus turned back to his best friend.

_What am I supposed to do? Having to come in to the hospital every other day would tie him down. He wouldn't want that. But he wouldn't want to die either. Ugh! I don't want to be a part of making this decision! This is something Shawn needs to decide. _

"Please wake up Shawn." Gus pleaded with his best friend.

OooOooO

Lassiter stood, frozen in shock at Samuel Thomas's confession, for a full five seconds before darting out the door. He burst into the observation room.

"Did you hear that?" Lassiter questioned his shocked partner.

For her part, Juliet nodded but kept her eyes glued on Thomas. Henry was just confused.

"Wait, what's the big deal?" He asked.

Lassiter ignored him.

"This doesn't make any sense! What could his motive possibly be?" Lassiter cried in frustration.

"I have no idea." Juliet said softly.

"Could someone please explain what the big deal is?" Henry's voice was laced with frustration.

Juliet turned her head and made direct eye contact with Henry.

"Nicholas Alexander is the victim's father."

OooOooO

The two detectives were sprinting out of the building only seconds later.

"Henry, go back to the hospital!" Lassiter ordered over his shoulder as he ran.

Normally Henry would have protested, but he knew that his son needed him more than the detectives did.

Juliet and Lassiter had just reached the car when a voice stopped them.

"Detective Lassiter! Detective O'Hara! Wait!" Buzz's voice came from the doorway to the station.

"Not now, McNab!" Lassiter disregarded the officer.

"No, you need to hear this!"

Lassiter just ignored him and hopped into his car. Juliet gave Buzz an apologetic smile.

"There's been another murder!" Buzz yelled in a last attempt to stop the detectives.

This was enough to get Lassiter to stick his head out the window.

"Related to our case?" He questioned curiously.

Buzz nodded.

"Who?" Juliet asked the younger officer.

"Senator Hayden Temple."

**OooOooO**

**Dun dun dun! The twists just keep coming, don't they? **

**Does anyone else really like the character of Wyatt Riley? Because I'm in love with him. **

**Okay, so, now that school is out **** *cheers* I should be able to update soon! Please please review! I don't know if you know this, but my computer runs on reviews. Like, if I don't get reviews, it shuts off. No joke ;)**

**If you have any questions about the plot or anything just ask in a PM or a review! :D **


	11. Deep Breath Before the Plunge

**Hey guys! Here's chapter 11! I hope you enjoy! :D**

**OooOooO**

Senator Hayden Temple lay, in his office, in a puddle of his own blood. He was killed by a single gunshot in the center of the forehead. His piercing blue eyes were wide with shock as they gazed, unseeing, at the ceiling.

"This just doesn't make any sense." Lassiter mused. "If Thomas was telling the truth, it seems like Nicholas Alexander was trying to pin his daughter's murder on Temple. Why would he go and kill him?"

"Well Carlton, you're assuming that Alexander did this. How do you know that this isn't completely unrelated?" Juliet pitched in.

The two detectives were squatting by the body and analyzing the scene. They'd been there for a while already, but they weren't finding a thing. This guy was good.

"Oh, come on, O'Hara. You don't believe that. What are the chances? If you ask me, Temple must've known something he shouldn't have. Worried that he'd be exposed, Alexander slipped in, killed him, and then ran. Hell, he's probably halfway to the border by now." Lassiter cursed.

"Well, maybe I don't _think _that this is unrelated, I'm just saying that we need to consider all of the possibilities. Politics are crazy. I'll bet you that everyone on the senate has at least fifteen people wanting to kill them. We can't just assume that this was Alexander." Juliet reasoned.

Lassiter sighed heavily, standing up from his squatting position. "Fine. But as of this moment, Nicholas Alexander is our number one suspect—for this and the murder of Emily Alexander."

After a good ten minutes of in-depth searching, the detectives came up empty for evidence.

"This is just like the scene of the crime for Emily Alexander's murder." Juliet pointed out. "Well, there are differences—Emily was stabbed in the heart and Hayden's been shot in the head—but there are certainly similarities. There isn't a speck of his assailant's DNA. Looking at the bodies, they've been arranged in a spread-eagle position. Whoever did this knew what he was doing. This is the perfect crime scene."

"Yeah, I—" Lassiter stopped abruptly as something caught his eye. A slow smile spread across his face as he made his way to some invisible piece of evidence across the room.

"What, Carlton? What is it?" His partner questioned.

"It may be a good crime scene, but it isn't perfect." He pulled a latex glove out of his pocket and swiftly covered one hand. Lassiter bent down and came up with a pen cap.

"Oh, joy! A break in the case! Drinks on me!" Juliet exclaimed sarcastically.

"It's been chewed." Lassiter explained, annoyed. "Which means saliva, which means DNA."

"Oh…" Juliet blushed.

Lassiter smirked at her embarrassment. "Let's head over to Alexander's office. We bring Alexander in and go from there. We can send this to the lab for tests." He indicated the pen cap.

Juliet found herself smiling despite herself. "Looks like this case is coming to an end."

If only things were that simple.

OooOooO

Senator Nicholas Alexander's office greatly resembled Hayden Temple's. Rich, oak double doors sealed off an expensive-looking room. Directly in the center of the room sat a desk that Juliet assumed cost more than she earned in a month. Papers were stacked haphazardly on the desk and surrounding filing cabinets.

The most interesting part of the senator's office? The lack of a senator.

"Where the hell is he?" Lassiter cried, replacing his gun in its holster.

"His secretary said that he should be here…" Juliet supplied.

Juliet's phone started buzzing. "Hello?" She answered. "Ok… yeah…. He's not here either… no… okay… keep me posted." She snapped her phone shut. " That was Buzz. The unit we sent to Alexander's house came up empty handed as well."

Lassiter looked like he wanted to throttle something. "Okay. This is just spit balling here—I'm not 'jumping to a conclusion' or anything. Alexander finds out one of his men—being Thomas—was caught and figured he would turn him in. He goes and ties up loose ends—being Temple—then goes on the run."

Juliet nodded slowly. "It could work…"

"Let's head back to the station to begin searching. I'll call McNab and have him find out the senator's car and put out a BOLO for it. He can look up know friends, relatives, associates—I want this guy found." Lassiter ordered.

OooOooO

Somewhere in a hospital across town, a particular psychic detective's eyes opened.

Somewhere in a waiting room across town, a particular senator was planning his last stand.

**OooOooO**

**Dun dun dun! CLIFFHANGER!**

**I've finally figured out how this is going to end! I have to admit, it's completely different than I anticipated, but I'm happy with it. **

**This story is almost over!**

**PLEASE REVIEW MY GOOD FRIENDS!**


	12. Stalling

**Hey guys! So, I'm guessing that a few of you want to kill me right now. Sorry it's been so long! I went to camp for three weeks! SORRY! Don't worry; there won't be another three-week hiatus like that, I promise. **

**On to the story!**

**OooOooO**

Burton Guster had always thought of himself as a patient person—something that had come in handy being best friends with Shawn. One time Shawn made him camp out overnight in front of a Best Buy in order to be the first to get _Halo 3. _About an hour in Shawn had left to go get food. He didn't come back until the next morning. As infuriated as he was, Gus, being the patient person that he is, sat outside the store all night.

This was completely different. Gus had lost his patience about an hour after Shawn was admitted to the hospital. About every ten minutes he would swear that he saw Shawn open his eyes, and Gus would jump out of his seat in excitement—once he even called a nurse.

So when Shawn opened his eyes for real Gus didn't believe his eyes. He was sitting, laid back in a chair, reading an issue of his safecracker magazine. He glanced up and saw his best friend's eyes open and staring intently at him. Gus, dismissing it as another of his hallucinations, went back to his reading. About four seconds later Gus realized what he had seen and he leapt out of his chair.

"Shawn?" Gus didn't mean to scream, but his excitement took over.

Shawn flinched at the sound. "Whoa, buddy. Let's take it down a couple of notches." Shawn's voice was low and hoarse, but it was an amazing sound to Gus.

"Oh my God, Shawn! You're awake!" Gus cried excitedly.

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "No, man. I think I'm still asleep." He said sarcastically.

Normally Gus would've made a quick comeback or at least rolled his eyes, but now all he could do was smile a smile so huge that it actually hurt his face.

"How are you feeling?" Gus asked. His voice was laced with concern, but the grin remained on his face.

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Like I was run over by an eighteen-wheeler carrying forty thousand pounds of pineapple."

"I'll go call a nurse." Gus said before running out of the room.

He was back within about fifteen seconds, sprinting into the room with a nurse in his wake. The nurse began messing with the machines Shawn was hooked to.

"So…" Shawn began casually, "where's my dad?"

"He ran back to his place to grab some things." Gus said simply, taking a seat next to Shawn's bed.

"And Lassie?"

"I think he's out working on the case."

"What about Jules?" Shawn suddenly found something on his sheets very interesting.

Gus raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Juliet?" Shawn nodded. "Well I'd assume that she'd be with Lassiter. You know, her partner."

"Uh, yeah. That'd make sense…" Shawn said shyly. Gus suspected that Shawn would've expected Juliet to be sobbing by his bedside.

For the next couple minutes Shawn and Gus exchanged some friendly banter as if they were just talking over smoothies on a regular Tuesday. They talked as long as they could until the nurse scolded Shawn for talking too much after he just woke up from a coma.

Then, out of the blue, Shawn's demeanor changed completely. His smile faded and his eyes locked on something outside the window.

"Uh, Shawn? Are you okay?" Gus asked hesitantly, disturbed by his friend's sudden change of attitude. On second he was laughing as the two of them attempted to communicate silently, and the next he was silent and serious.

"Uh, yeah." Shawn said hoarsely. "You know what, buddy? Why don't you go and call Lassie and Jules and tell them I'm awake? Tell them to get over here quick so that I can give them my statement before I fall asleep again."

"What about your dad?" Gus questioned.

"Yeah, him too." Shawn answered distractedly.

"Okay…" Gus agreed hesitantly.

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief when Gus left the room. _Thank God he's out. I only have to hope Lassie and Jules get here in time._

Through the window a mad looking Nicholas Alexander stood smiling at him.

Shawn saw Alexander make his way towards his door. His mind was racing. _What do I do? What do I DO? _He thought frantically. Shawn's memories might have been a little hazy, but he knew enough to know that Nicholas Alexander was _not _someone he wanted to see right now. _I'll just have to stall until Lassie and Jules get here. _That was it. That was all he could do. He was helpless in his current state. He could've told Gus that he'd seen Alexander, but he knew that Gus wouldn't leave him. Shawn would die if anything happened to Gus.

Shawn held his breath as Nicholas Alexander walked straight through his open door. The tall, dark man closed the door behind him. He locked it. Shawn wanted to scream, but thought twice about it when he saw the gun in Alexander's waistband. _If a nurse or doctor runs in he might shoot them… _Shawn's pulse quickened and terror coursed through his veins when Alexander closed the blinds.

"Hello, Shawn." A smile occupied Nicholas Alexander's face, completely contradicting the situation.

"Hey, Nick! How are things with you?" Shawn tried to sound upbeat, but his voice shook when he spoke.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. I've been busy with… business lately." Nicholas shot Shawn a wink.

"Really? That sounds pretty boring. I don't know; it's just that the word 'business' always makes me tired. I guess it's the way that it has the word 'busy'—well I guess not really, but it's implied—and the word 'sin' and the word 'ness' all squashed together. The combination is criminal in itself—" Shawn rambled on.

Nicholas Alexander cut him off with a laugh. "You know, Shawn, I've always liked you. You seem like a great guy. Unfortunately you're a nuisance—always getting in my way. I can't let you bust me, Shawn. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you." He whipped out the gun from his waistband. Shawn was pretty sure his heart stopped.

Shawn heard a banging on the door.

"Shawn! Open up this door! Is everything okay?" He heard Gus's voice from the other side of the door. Alexander shifted his weight uneasily. He thought he'd have more time before people showed up. Shawn, however, took his best friend's arrival as a good thing. If he could just stall for a little longer…

"Whoa, Nick. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay. Look, I have no intention of 'busting' you. I'm more of an 'exposer'. I expose people. I don't bust people. I find that term offensive. But you know what? This whole ordeal, being at death's door and all, has really changed my outlook on life. I don't want to be a 'buster', an 'exposer', a 'tattler' or a 'snitch'—I just want to be Shawn. Well, maybe I'll be something better than Shawn. Maybe I'll be Enrique. What I'm trying to say is—" Shawn babbled.

Another banging on the door cut Shawn off mid-sentence.

"Shawn? Shawn are you okay? Open the door." _Jules! _Shawn thought happily.

"Spencer, if you don't open this door in twenty seconds I'm breaking it down!" Lassiter's voice warned from the other side.

"Shut it, psychic!" Alexander shouted. His face was red and sweaty. He looked absolutely insane. "Stop trying to stall. It's not going to work. You're going to die today and there's nothing you can do about it." With that Nicholas Alexander aimed his gun.

OooOooO

Juliet was in the car on the way to the station with Lassiter when she got the call.

"O'Hara." She answered shortly.

"He's awake!" Gus's excited voice came from the other end of the line. She didn't have to ask who he was talking about.

"Are you serious?" Juliet couldn't believe her ears. Shawn was awake?

"Yep!" Gus announced happily. "He woke up like, ten minutes ago. He wanted me to call you and ask you to come over ASAP."

Juliet glanced over at Lassiter who looked very interested in the conversation.

"You know what? We're right by the hospital. We're on our way back to the station. We'll stop by."

"Great!" Gus's voice was about as optimistic as Juliet had ever heard it.

Juliet snapped her phone shut and turned to Lassiter. "Shawn's awake."

Within five minutes the duo was walking through the hospital. They came to Shawn's room to find a very distraught looking Gus banging on the door. The blinds were closed.

"What's going on, Gus?" Juliet asked, worried.

"I don't know. I just left the room to call you guys and I came back to a locked door. I don't get it. How could Shawn have the energy to walk across the room and lock the door?" Gus sounded uneasy.

"Unless he wasn't the one who locked it…" Lassiter said meaningfully.

The three friends exchanged a knowing glance before Juliet turned and began banging on the door.

"Shawn? Shawn are you okay? Open the door." She cried desperately.

Lassiter came up beside her and yelled, "Spencer, if you don't open this door in twenty seconds I'm breaking it down!"

There were a few seconds of silence before a gunshot rang out.

**OooOooO**

**Mwahahaha! CLIFFE! Yes, I know I'm evil. Good news is that it shouldn't be all that long before there's another update.**

**Sorry if this chapter sucked. I don't like it very much :/**

**Anyways, please review! Any thoughts on how the story should end? I mean, I haven't decided and I've been know to be influenced by my readers. What happened with the gunshot? Is Shawn dead? Alive? REVIEW AND YOU'LL FIND OUT! Thanks! :D**


	13. Revelations

**Hello, friends! Here I am with another update! I couldn't leave you hanging that long. ;). I hope you enjoy! **

**Please review! Thanks! :D**

**OooOooO**

Shawn saw the shot coming before Alexander even aimed the gun. That being said, it didn't change the fact that he was lying helplessly in a hospital bed, hardly able to move.

He reflexively curled his left shoulder away from the gun. Shawn let out a loud, agonizing scream as the bullet lodged itself into his upper torso, centimeters from his heart.

Tears sprang into the pseudo-psychic's eyes. His right hand went instinctively to his chest. When he pulled away his hand was coated in sticky, red blood.

"SHAWN!" He heard Juliet scream from the other side of the door.

Shawn desperately wanted to shout back to his friend, but the pain and blood loss was making him dazed and disoriented.

Nicholas Alexander, realizing that he had mere seconds before the room was filled with police officers, sprinted to the side of the bed furthest from the door and pulled Shawn into a sitting position. The movement caused Shawn to scream again; this time even louder.

When the two detectives burst through the door, Nicholas Alexander was squatting behind Shawn and had his gun pressed against his temple.

"Make a move and he's dead." The senator warned.

Shawn saw a look of hesitancy flash across his friends' faces.

"Lassie! Jules! Great to see you." Shawn attempted to speak with an optimistic voice but failed miserably. His words came out with a pained tone—a fact that didn't go unnoticed by either detective.

"Shawn, just stay still, okay?" Juliet advised him. "Senator Alexander, I'm only going to say this once: drop your weapon and step away from the bed." Shawn had never heard her voice sound so harsh.

"NO!" Alexander's voice was crazed.

_Wow, this guy's really gone off the deep end… _Shawn thought to himself.

"YOU are the ones who need to drop your weapons and walk out of here." The senator screamed.

Lassiter and Juliet made no move to do as he said.

"NOW! Go now or I swear I'll kill him." Nicholas's voice was low and dangerous.

"You really don't want to do that, Nick." Shawn interjected. "If you kill me now you won't be able to hear the totally awesome reveal I've been working on for the past fifteen seconds. This is a good one, too. You see, Nick, this case was a tough one. One of the toughest I've ever been on, to tell you the truth. When I divined that it was, in fact, you who killed your daughter I was blown away. I seriously didn't see that coming." Shawn could feel Nicholas Alexander's eyes boring a hole into the back of his head. "But then it hit me: you never actually killed your daughter, did you? That girl who was murdered wasn't Emily Alexander at all."

"Wait." Lassiter cut in. "That's impossible—"

"Is it, Lassafrass? Is it really? As I recall you never ran a DNA test. The body had an ID on it, and on top of that you had Nicholas Alexander confirm that it was his daughter. All circumstantial if you ask me." Shawn pointed out. Lassiter looked dumbstruck. "You had to fake your own daughter's death in order to protect her. That's what this all was about. It wasn't about any vote to legalize drugs, it was about a mob war."

"Hold on a second. Who said anything about a mob?" Lassiter interrupted once more.

"Really, Lassie? Can't you wait? I'll get to that." Shawn said impatiently. His voice was getting softer and softer as exhaustion overtook his body. "There was a mob war going on. Mr. Alexander, here, is just another friendly neighborhood mob boss. The leader of the other mob? Our good friend, Mr. Hayden Temple." Juliet and Lassiter's eyes widened as the truth hit them.

"Shut up!" Alexander yelled, shaking Shawn.

The contact caused Shawn to yelp in pain, but he wasn't about to be stopped. "You and Temple were at odds with each other for ages, ever since he interned with you, isn't that right? You're the one that brought him into the business—and I'm not talking about politics. He was your faithful trainee for two years until you had a colossal fight. He left you and went out into the real world, eventually becoming as powerful as you and forming his own mob.

"Your respective mobs took up the fight, didn't they? Soon you were in full-blown war. Hayden Temple threatened your daughter and you couldn't have that. Nothing could happen to her. So what did you do? What any good father would do: you faked her death. No one would go after her if they thought she was dead. You used the drug legislation as an excuse for her 'murder'—also a way to try and pin it on Temple. Why not get him out of the way? If you check the voting I'm sure you'll find that Mr. Alexander here voted to pass the law after all."

"What was I supposed to do?" Alexander shouted frantically. "She's my daughter! The only thing I have left in this world. I couldn't let Temple get to her. He would kill her! I had to protect her."

"I understand that, Nick. I really do." Shawn sympathized, his voice growing more pained by the second. "But then I came along. You knew that I was close, too close, to finding out the truth. You couldn't have me exposing your daughter, so you put a hit on me. Tried to kill me. It didn't matter anyways. These two," Shawn nodded towards Lassiter and Juliet, "figured you out. They caught Samuel Thomas and you knew it was only a matter of time before you were arrested. So you did all you could do. You ran. But before you left you had to tie up the loose ends—Hayden Temple and myself. Which brings you here." Shawn finished.

"Pretty good, psychic. I'm impressed. Too bad that's not gong to help you now." Alexander pushed his gun harder into Shawn's temple.

Unbeknownst to Alexander, Shawn's eyes were locked with Juliet's. He silently raised one finger, then two; on three he lay down, pushing himself hard into the mattress of his bed. Alexander, sensing the movement, fired his gun, the bullet flying uselessly over Shawn's head. Juliet, understanding Shawn's plan, shot as soon as he hit the mattress, nailing Alexander in the center of the chest.

Alexander's eyes glazed over in shock before he collapsed onto the ground. Lassiter ran over to make sure that he was down while Juliet ran over to Shawn.

"He's out." Lassiter called. "Guster!" He shouted towards the hallway. Gus's head popped into the doorway.

"Can I come in yet? Is Shawn okay?" Gus sounded frantic.

"He's fine." Lassiter assured him. "Go call someone. Alexander's bleeding out."

With one last glance to his best friend Gus took off down the hallway.

"Shawn, are you okay?" Juliet asked worriedly, putting a hand on Shawn's un-injured shoulder.

"Uh," Shawn's voice was unsettlingly soft and weak, "I-I'm not so sure…" With that Shawn's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out. Juliet nearly vomited when she noticed the large red stain that was steadily growing on the psychic's chest.

**OooOooO**

**Poor Shawn. I'm too mean to him. **

**In all honesty, that reveal worked out waaaaay better than I thought it would. Especially considering the fact that I really didn't plan that out at all. Seriously. When I started writing the story, I intended Emily Alexander to really be dead, and Hayden Temple to be the murderer. Funny how that worked out. Well, sorry if it didn't make much sense…**

**Okay guys, either one or two more chapters to go! Any opinions on how it should end? Like I said, I kind of write what I feel like at the moment, so y'all will influence how happy the ending is!  
**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks! :D**


	14. Desperation

**Hello, my friends! Sorry this took a while! You're allowed to hate me now. This story is right near being done! **

**I'm not too sure about this chappie. You see, I keep having intense hospital/Shawn almost dying scenes in all my stories, but I don't want them to be the same every time. I'm trying to make it at least kind of original. I really haven't ever read a scene quite like this, so I hope you enjoy it! **

**Please review! Thanks! :D**

**TIP: This chapter is VERY visual. It really, really helps if you try and picture it. I promise!**

**OooOooO**

Juliet experienced a moment of shock before she was able to act. _How did we not see that he was bleeding? _She mentally kicked herself. _Some detective I am. _

"O'Hara!" Lassiter called, kneeling next to Alexander. "How's Spencer?" He asked.

"H-he's been shot." Juliet replied, shocked at how calm and casual her voice was—especially considering the fact that her body didn't seem able to move.

"Well of course he was shot. What, did you think Alexander was shooting at the ceiling? How bad is it?" Lassiter pushed down on Nicholas Alexander's wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.

Juliet couldn't bring herself to answer as she hesitantly followed Lassiter's example and put pressure on Shawn's shoulder.

"O'Hara?" Lassiter called again. Receiving no answer he sat up straighter in an attempt to see the damage done to the psychic. "Sweet lady Justice…" He muttered under his breath. He could feel his stomach knotting up when he saw the unconscious psychic on the bed. The light blue fabric of his hospital gown was quickly becoming a dark purple.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God…" Juliet continued to murmur as she pushed her hands into her friend's chest. Her eyes were closed and her face was turned away from the scene before her, but Lassiter could still see the silent tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

_Where the hell are those doctors! _Lassiter wondered angrily. _Isn't this supposed to be a hospital? _Making a spur of the moment decision, Lassiter abandoned his post over the bleeding Nicholas Alexander and ran to the doorway.

"I need a doctor in here!" He yelled as loudly as he could. "This man is dying!" _Oh, God. Spencer is dying. _It was as if the thought hadn't occurred to him until he said it out loud.

Carlton ran over to the bed and stood over Shawn. He grabbed the younger man's wrist and felt desperately for a pulse.

"He has no pulse." He said quietly, understanding the gravity of the situation.

Juliet snapped out of her trance. "What?"

"He has no pulse." Carlton said loudly, practically screaming at his partner.

"What?" Juliet screamed, making Lassiter automatically regret telling her. "Shawn!" She screamed, her voice on the edge of hysteria. "Shawn, wake up! Please!" She cried, shaking him. Receiving no response she fell to her knees and buried her face into Shawn's stomach. Harsh sobs wracked her body. "Shawn!" She continued to cry.

"What the hell is going on here?" A new voice came from the doorway.

"Henry…" Lassiter warned. Henry Spencer stood, looking dumbstruck, with a cup of coffee in his hand. He made no move to help his son; he just stood staring, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

"Henry." Lassiter said loudly, getting Henry's attention. _This is a wonderful time for everyone to completely lose their minds. _He thought bitterly. "Get her off of him so that I can help your son." He indicated to Juliet.

Henry nodded, still moving as if in a trance, put his coffee down, and grabbed Juliet by the arms and led her away from the bed. Juliet hardly noticed her change of position and turned willingly into his embrace. Henry wrapped his arms around her as Juliet sobbed into his chest.

Meanwhile Lassiter leaned over Shawn and began performing CPR, coating his hands in blood in the process. "Come on, Spencer. Stay with me."

Mere seconds later the room was flooded with doctors. Two ran over to Nicholas Alexander while three went to Shawn.

Lassiter couldn't bring himself to care when the doctors declared Alexander dead. _The bastard got what he deserves. _He thought.

"Where's that crash cart?" A doctor yelled as he repositioned Shawn on the bed.

One of the other doctors hooked Shawn back up to the heart monitor. The shrill sound of a flat line rang around the room, causing Juliet to sob, if possible, even harder into Henry's chest. Carlton wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a few tears rolling down the older man's face as well as his grip tightened around Juliet.

Everything was a blur of light and sound as Lassiter attempted to follow what was going on.

"Charge 300!" One doctor yelled. "Clear!" Shawn's body jolted upwards. "No response. Again!"

Carlton wasn't sure how many times they repeated that, but it was enough to make him begin to lose hope. He ran his hands through his hair and let himself fall back against the nearest wall, sliding all the way down to a sitting position on the floor.

"Again!" He heard a doctor shout. "Clear!" This time Carlton heard a ragged breath being drawn in by the psychic as his heart started.

"He's back!" A doctor yelled happily.

Lassiter jumped to his feet to get a better look. Sure enough, Shawn Spencer lay on the bed, breathing heavily in an attempt to replenish his body's oxygen supply, but breathing nonetheless.

Henry released a huge sigh of relief and released Juliet, sliding to the floor just as Lassiter had and resting his face in his hands.

"Shawn?" He heard his partner's soft voice from beside him, her voice still thick from her sobs.

Shawn's head slowly turned so that he could look at her. His eyes were clouded and distant—one of many signs that he was in great pain. Despite the situation, a tired smile graced his features. "Jules." He said weakly.

Juliet smiled widely though her shoulders still shook and the occasional sob escaped her. She moved to the side of the bed unoccupied by doctors and fell to her knees by Shawn's side. She gripped his right hand between both of her own.

"Oh, thank God." She cried, tears of joy streaming down her face. "I thought I'd lost you." She said.

Lassiter was surprised at how gentle and loving his partner's voice was. Sure she was almost always sweet, but this was different. _Is something going on between the two of them that I don't know about? _He asked himself—the fact that she said 'I'd lost you' instead of 'we'd' didn't escape his notice.

"It's okay, Jules. I'm here. It's going to be okay." Shawn's voice was equally gentle and loving.

Juliet lifted her right hand to caress his face gently. The two exchanged a look that made Lassiter feel as though he was intruding on a very personal moment—especially when he considered the fact that they were talking to each other quietly, as if they didn't want anyone else to hear.

"I love you, Jules. So much."

"I love you too, Shawn." The two smiled widely before embracing in a gentle, yet passionate, kiss.

Soon after Juliet was shooed away from Shawn's bed and the psychic was wheeled away for surgery.

_Yep. _ Lassiter answered himself. _There is definitely something going on between them that I don't know about. _

**OooOooO**

**Wow! Shawn and Juliet are a couple! Who knew? I sure didn't. **

**See, the thing is, two people requested specifics for this chapter: ilovemyboys and Milu Georgia. Ilovemyboys wanted a Shawn/Lassie moment where Lassie feels for the pulse and it isn't there, and Milu (who is from Germany, by the way. It excites me that people from other countries are reading this, too) wanted Shawn and Jules to share a kiss in front of everyone. Now, I'm a sucker for requests, so I **_**had **_**to do them. **

**Anyways, I think there'll be one more chapter. Maybe two. Probably one. **

**HERE'S THE DEAL ****I REALLY want to break 100 reviews. Fanfic has 86 so far and Psychfic has 76. So FF would have to get at least 7 for the next two and PF would have to get at least 12. Not sure if it's going to happen, but it would mean a lot. So I'm trying something that I did for my last story, ****At Least I'm Not Bored****. I'm asking all of you lurkers out there (yes, I know you're out there) to PLEASE review. Just once. Please? Thanks! :D**


	15. I'm Not Known For My Patience

**Hey! So I'd like to start by saying that y'all are awesome. Absolutely awesome. You guys already broke 100! I'm so happy! Seriously, I didn't expect this. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Thanks SO much! I love you all! **

**I'd also like to give each and every one of you permission to hate me. I deserve it. I'm sorry this took so long! I had some family stuff come up and I didn't have time. I promise the next one will be faster!**

**OooOooO**

Carlton shifted in his seat uncomfortably for what seemed like the millionth time. _Why is it taking so long? _He asked himself, a number of unpleasant answers coming to mind. It had been hours…

Lassiter shot a glance at his partner, who was sitting beside him. Outwardly she seemed calm, but by the way she continuously fiddled with the hem of her shirt he could tell that she was freaking out.

"So… O'Hara…" He began. Juliet turned in her seat to look at him and gave him an annoyed look. She clearly wanted to be left alone.

"Yes, Carlton?" She said through gritted teeth.

_Wow. I hope I don't see O'Hara in emotional distress again soon. _He thought to himself. His partner looked ready to kill him.

"So, you and Spencer…" He muttered.

"Yes, Carlton." Her voice was a little louder and harsher than before.

But Lassiter was never one to take a hint.

"You're a thing?"

"Yes, Carlton." Her voice was much louder and harsher this time.

A moment of awkward silence passed. Juliet was breathing deeply, clearly trying to calm herself down.

"Why?"

Juliet gave him what could only be described as a half-murderous/half-incredulous look.

A light chuckling from Lassiter's other side caused him to avert his gaze from his fuming partner.

"The kid always had a way with the girls. He got that from me." A distraught Henry Spencer chuckled.

_It's certainly interesting to see how everyone copes with this kind of stuff… _Lassiter thought to himself. O'Hara was acting like she would shoot anyone for merely bumping into her and Henry, well, Henry was acting a little punch drunk.

"Why are you talking about him in the past tense?" Guster asked forebodingly.

Henry didn't answer, but instead gave Gus a meaningful look.

The younger man looked like he wanted to vomit.

"I thought you said that the doctors brought him back?" The younger man, having been ordered by the doctors to stay in the hall, was still a little uncertain of the details.

"There's a difference in being away from the bear and being out of the woods, kid." Henry said softly.

The following moment of silence stretched on and on; the quiet gnawing at all four comrades.

"How's the search for Emily going?" Juliet's voice cut through the tense silence.

"Oh, uh, I'm not sure. I called the chief a little while ago and she said that she sent a party out to each of the Alexanders' known residences. If one thing is for sure, it's that Nicholas wasn't going to hurt his own kid. I'm sure they'll find her." Lassiter answered, glad for the change of subject.

"What happens to her now?" Gus inquired, clearly jumping at the distraction. "I mean, didn't her mom die a little while back? She's an orphan now." He pointed out.

"She'll go live with some relative. If she doesn't have one she'll be put into foster care. Poor kid. She doesn't deserve this." Henry answered. Though he was participating in the conversation, his eyes were a long way away. He looked dazed, as if he were thinking much harder than anyone ever should.

"It's my fault." Henry said after a moment. The two detectives looked shocked, but Gus looked as if he had seen this coming. "All of it. I left him the first time and he almost died. Still could with his damn kidneys. I shouldn't have left him again. I should have stayed with him. He's my son. I'm supposed to protect him. This is my fault." Henry's eyes seemed devoid of emotion. He had shut down. He spoke with a cold acceptance of what was happening. "He's going to die, and it's my fault."

Gus was clearly doing everything he could to keep himself from crying. The younger man had always looked up to his friend's father. He took everything he said as ironclad fact. _Oh God. He's going to die. _He thought miserably.

"No, Mr. Spencer. It's my fault. I'm the one who left him this time. You trusted me with your son's life and I failed. I'm so sorry." Gus whispered. His eyes were downcast and an unmistakable air of guilt surrounded him.

Juliet could feel her hope draining out of her like a gas tank nearing empty. Hearing the two people closest to Shawn in the whole world give up completely was too much for her to take. _This isn't happening. _She pleaded. _Oh, please this isn't happening. _She continued to look steadfastly forwards as silent tears made their way down her face.

"Now wait just a second." Lassiter spoke up. He looked around at the three hopeless, heartbroken faces of his companions and felt an irrational anger rising up in him. "That's it? You're just going to give up?" Neither Gus, Henry, or Juliet showed any sign that they were listening, but Lassiter pushed forward. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous you're being? Spencer is in there right now, fighting for his life, and the three of you are moping around like it's over? How would you feel if you were him? What would Spencer say if he saw the three of you sitting around like pathetic little bumps on a log? Shawn will make it out of this. I know he will. Because… because I'm Head Detective, damn it! What I say goes!" With that Lassiter plopped back into his plastic chair.

The other three looked at him, completely shocked. Juliet found herself smiling a bit in spite of herself. She reached over and took her partner's hand. "Thanks." She said simply. Lassiter nodded.

The three sat in an uneasy silence for what seemed like hours before a scrub-clad doctor made his way towards them.

"Family of Shawn Spencer?"

**OooOooO**

**So, you know how I said that this would be the last chapter? JUST KIDDING! **

**I really thought it would be. When I started writing I meant for it to be, but this came out. **

**Ah, well. There'll be one more chapter. **

**You all have been so great with the reviews! Please keep it up! As you've noticed by now, if one of you tells me you want to see something happen I take it seriously! Please review and tell me what you think!**


	16. Resolution is a Tricky Thing

**Hello again, for the last time, my friends. This is the last chapter for real this time. I really hope you enjoy it!**

**As this is the last chappie, please tell me what you think! Thanks to everyone who has read and especially those who have reviewed! Y'all are awesome!**

**OooOooO**

It would be impossible to say which of the four companions shot out of their seats fastest at the sound of the doctor's voice. Plastic chairs, water bottles and empty coffee cups were knocked over as they all scrambled to get to the doctor.

The doctor was unfamiliar—neither Gus nor Henry had seen him before.

"Where's Dr. Riley?" Gus asked the new doctor.

Juliet punched him on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Shut up, Guster." Lassiter scolded. "How's Spencer?" He demanded from the doctor.

The four stood, their hearts in their throats as they waited for an answer.

"Mr. Spencer is out of surgery. We believe that he will be okay." The doctor informed them, grinning.

"Are you serious?" Lassiter asked dumbly.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's kidding. Doctors like to do that to relieve the tension when telling families the bad news." Henry said sarcastically, his tone nowhere near the huge grin dominating his face.

Gus and Juliet said nothing; they just stood hugging, tears leaking from the detective's eyes.

When the two broke apart, Juliet turned to the doctor. "Can we see him? Can we see Shawn?" Her voice was pleading.

The doctor looked at the group as if trying to decide how much trouble they'd be. "Well, fine. Just take it easy, okay? He is still very fragile." The man indicated for the four to follow him.

Shawn lay in bed, pale, and hooked up to several machines. He had an oxygen mask covering most of his face. However, unlike the last time they were in this situation, his friends were fully prepared for the sight in front of them. Plus, this time Shawn's eyes were open.

The doctor waltzed in and began checking all of Shawn's machines and Gus took up the chair by his bedside, while the other two men stood awkwardly, crowding the doorway. They liked it better when he was asleep. Juliet pushed past the human barricade and ran to Shawn's bedside. She fell to her knees next to him, this time in happiness instead of pain.

"Shawn! Oh, thank God you're okay." She smiled, lightly stroking his hair. There wasn't the faintest trace of a tear on her face.

Shawn shakily lifted one hand to lower his oxygen mask. "Jules." He said weakly, smiling back. Somehow the smile came off as a regular 'Shawn Spencer Smile' despite the circumstances.

Lassiter cleared his throat and the two's eyes snapped from each other's gaze to the detective.

"Well, Spencer… I'm glad you're okay." He said uncomfortably.

"Oh, Lassafrass! I didn't know you cared!" Shawn cried happily.

"You really gave us a scare there, kid." Henry put in.

"Just keeping life interesting, pops. Plus, someone's got to keep you on your toes. Wouldn't want you going _soft, _would we?" Shawn joked, his tired eyes lighting up with amusement.

"Oh, come on, Gus. Right now? With all of the happiness filling this room?" Shawn complained, the only one to notice his best friend crying in the chair next to him.

"Don't give me that, Shawn. You know I'm a sympathetic crier!" Gus shot back at his friend tearfully.

"Dude. Nobody's crying! You've really got to find a better excuse, man. Here, how bout this. Just tell everyone that you're having one of your murder mystery dinners tonight and you were chopping carrots all morning!"

"I think you mean onions, Shawn." Gus corrected.

"I've heard it both ways."

"Have not!"

"Oh, really? And how can you be so sure about that, Gus? Do you stalk me and listen to all of my conversations? I thought you had a job." Shawn challenged.

"Shawn. Onions and carrots are about as different as you can get. First off, onions are either white, green, red or purple, and carrots, while they can be red, yellow, purple, black or white, are traditionally thought of in their orange state—" Gus was cut off.

"Guster. If you keep talking I'm going to pull out my weapon and put a bullet hole in you to match Spencer's, okay?" Lassiter threatened.

Gus nodded, and then changed the subject. "Did the doctors tell you about your kidneys?" Shawn nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"Gus, please don't be an anorexic muffin. Of course I'm going to go with the transplant. Do you really think that I'm going to come to this place every other day?" Shawn chided his best friend.

"Maybe you should think about this, kid." Henry pitched in. "It's a big decision to make."

"Yes, it's also my decision. I know what I'm going to do. There's really no question about it." Shawn said firmly, waiting for retaliation from his father. There was none.

"Okay, kiddo. If that's what you want." Henry said, shrugging.

Shawn's mouth dropped open.

"Can you please at least wait a few days until after you've healed more? I don't think I could take waiting in that stupid room again so soon." Juliet pouted to her boyfriend.

Shawn just smiled. "Of course, Jules." With that the psychic closed his eyes and lay peacefully. His breathing evened out and the others could tell that he was asleep.

It wasn't over yet.

OooOooO

**EIGHT MONTHS LATER**

"Go long, Gus!" Shawn yelled across the station.

"I'm open! I'm open!" Gus called back.

Shawn reached back and hurled the football through the air.

"And an interception!" Shawn called in a mock-announcer voice as Lassiter caught the ball right before it crashed into a nearby computer.

"What the hell kind of throw was that, Spencer?" Lassiter scolded. "Guster is on the other side of the station."

"Oh, please, Lassitarian." Shawn shot back. "I wasn't aiming for _Gus. _That would be way too obvious." 

"Well, who were you aiming for, then?" Lassiter asked, confused.

"Him." Shawn said simply, pointing towards a pineapple trapped under a full sized football helmet that sat feet from Lassiter.

Carlton rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

"Wait, Lassie! Get back here with our football!" Shawn cried.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll just put it in his desk. I'll sneak it out for you later." Juliet came up behind him, smiling.

"You better. That's quality pigskin right there." Shawn complained.

"You won that football at a booth at the Cinnamon Festival in 1988, Shawn." Gus pointed out from halfway across the station.

"Why would you say that, Gus? Why?" Shawn called back. "How can you hear me from there, anyway? "

"I have 20/20 hearing, Shawn." Gus shouted.

"I don't think that's a thing…" Shawn whispered to Juliet. She shrugged.

O'Hara checked her watch. "I've got to go, Shawn. I'm going to miss the hearing."

"What hearing?"

"The custody battle for Emily Alexander between two of her aunts. Turns out that Nicholas didn't have a thing about what to do with his daughter if he died in his will. At least he left everything he owned to the poor girl." Juliet explained.

Shawn nodded. "Okay then, well I'll see you tonight?" Juliet confirmed with a nod. Shawn kissed her on the cheek before she walked towards her partner who waited at the front of the station.

Lassiter and Juliet were almost at the door when they heard a voice behind them.

"Hey Lassie! Think fast!"

Lassiter turned just in time to be smacked in the face by a Frisbee. On closer inspection, the detective found a large drawing of a chimpanzee on the top. Lassiter displayed it to his partner.

"Seriously. Spencer? Why?"

**OooOooO**

**Okay, guys. That's the end. I hope you liked it! I'm going to miss this story and all of you. It's been a great ride. **

**For those of you who are interested, I'm currently writing a story called "The Wrongly Accused" that's in its 16****th**** chapter or something. After that you can look out for more stories from me! They'll be coming soon! Thanks so much!**

**You guys have been so fantastic with the reviews so far. Let's go out with a bang! Please review, my friends! It means a lot! Thanks!**


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